


Girl on Fire (Teen Wolf/Hunger Games) [Stilinski]

by bluetacos



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, Teen Wolf (TV), The Hunger Games (Movies)
Genre: 74th Hunger Games, Alternate Universe - Hunger Games Setting, Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, Bisexual Female Character of Color, Black Character(s), Canonical Character Death, F/F, F/M, Female Character of Color, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Hunger Games Rewrite, Hunger Games-Typical Death/Violence, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Teen Wolf Hunger Games Crossover, Triggers, aurora & stiles & scott are best friends, aurora is afro-latina, aurora is basically katniss
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-07-21 02:23:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16150550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluetacos/pseuds/bluetacos
Summary: Aurora Galloway hates her birthday. Why? Because her big special day is also the day of the Reaping for the Hunger Games.A Teen Wolf Hunger Games Crossover-Rewrite.





	1. introduction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aurora Galloway hates her birthday. Why? Because her big special day is also the day of the Reaping for the Hunger Games.
> 
>  
> 
> A Teen Wolf Hunger Games Crossover-Rewrite.

A urora Galloway hates her birthday. _Why?_ Because her big special is also the day of the Reaping for the Hunger Games. Aurora spends the entire morning praying to whoever is up there to not have either of her sisters or any of her friend's reaped. Aurora is from District Twelve, which is considered one of the worst districts; they rarely ever win, so their people being reaped is the equivalent of being sentenced to death in her book.

They—Scott, Stiles, herself, Lydia, Allison, Kira, Malia, Issac, Erica, Boyd, Cora, Danny, and the Twins; Ethan and Aiden—have been fine for the past three years, every single one of them successfully managing to avoid being Reaped every year, which was shocking to Aurora, due to how big their friend group is. They have all been fine but this year, Aurora woke up—not feeling sixteen so please stop asking—but with a heavy feeling in her chest, fearing the absolute worst was about to happen. And her fears are confirmed when at the Reaping she hears the name _'Alise Galloway'_ boom out the speakers.

Alise Galloway as in her fourteen-year-old _younger sister_ Alise Galloway. And there's no way she's letting her little sister get slaughtered on live television, so she does the unthinkable—volunteers for Alise.

And just like that, she's now District Twelve's female tribute for the seventy-fourth annual Hunger Games. She quickly befriends her fellow tribute, fourteen-year-old Liam Dunbar, and vows to protect him after quickly forming a bond with the young boy. But will she be able to protect him like she promised, come back home a Victor like she also promised her friends and family and survive the Hunger Games herself as she quickly rises to fame, being dubbed as the  _**Girl on Fire** _ and becoming a target to nearly every other tribute in the Games?

 

 

 

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**A/N: hellooo !!! god im super excited for this story, ive been working really hard on it i hope yall will like it :) but i have some guidelines i guess u could call them. its just some details that'll help u understand the story more.**

 

 **1**. this is a teen wolf and hunger games crossover-rewrite; it's basically a hunger games rewrite but with some oc's and its crossedover with teen wolf characters

 _1a_. these are the oc's;

 

** aurora galloway **

 

 

** alise galloway **

 

 

** amara galloway **

 

 

** hudson galloway **

 

 

 **rose galloway** ♰

 

 

 

 _1b_. and if u can't already tell, aurora is black. her whole family is black. and not only black but dark skin too, i love the idea of stiles having a dark skin gf. so much. 

 **2**. theres no katniss, prim, peeta, or gale. aurora, stiles, liam, scott, and alise kind of replace them in a weird-ish way.

 _2a_. obvi aurora replaces katniss

 _2b_. stiles replaces peeta because he has a massive crush on aurora but the difference is he doesn't get reaped.

 _2c_. liam also replaces peeta, because he gets reaped but he doesn't like aurora romantically.

 _2d_. scott replaces gale but scott is with allison and aurora doesn't like him like that.

 _2e_. lastly, alise replaces primrose.

 _2f_. but haymitch, effie, and cinna are still there !!! woo

 

 **3**. there is no star-crossed lovers shit in this one.  ** _stiles is aurora's love interest_** , and he wasn't reaped, and liam's fourteen in this and aurora's sixteen and it lowkey made me uncomfortable to put them in some fake relationship so i scrapped it out altogether. no star-crossed lovers shit at all.

 

 **4**. no supernatural creatures, too complicated.

 

 **5**. allison, erica, boyd, laura, and aiden are still alive, isaac is still here too. no jackson, rip.

 

 **6**. there was a fire that killed most of the hales, just not derek's parents, and the fire wasn't argent-related either. peter and others died, so it's just talia, derek's father (who i'll call william), laura, derek, and cora.

 

 **7**. this will also occasionally switch pov's so it'll go from aurora's pov to stiles', I know it's evil but i wanna write about stiles as he has to suffer watching aurora try to survive.

 

 

**A/N: but yeah, that's pretty much it, please let me know what y'all think about this, id really appreciate the feedback and i'll try to update as much as possible :)**


	2. chapter one: the nightmare and the breakdown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Before the Reaping, Aurora has a weird dream and feeling she can’t shake off.

_**TW: death (somewhat explicit), violence, assault, swearing, slight mention of PTSD, mention of animal death and implied signs of depression/mental illness and implied signs of trauma** _

 

 

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 **W** hat woke me up was the cold. When I opened my eyes the first thing I saw was white. It was the sky. Since when is the sky that color white and so... plain? I shivered as a breeze swept by, blowing ice-cold kisses on my skin, most likely leaving goosebumps in their wake. I felt was dirt and the unforgiving ground beneath my body. I was so confused—where am I? Why am I on the ground? And outside?

I stood up, groaning as my body felt like it was being used for the first time in eight-hundred, thousand years. I looked around and quickly realized I was standing in downtown, specifically the Square. But it was different; everything was foggy and empty. It looked like a literal ghost town. Where the hell is everyone? And lastly... how the hell did I get here? I was left with unanswered questions as I saw a familiar figure walk up to me, emerging from the fog—it's my younger sister?

"Alise?" I called out. She ran up to me, her usually untamable, curly hair was styled into two neat, french braids and gave me a hug, a big smile on her face. The face that brought joy to my heart.

"We mustn't be late!" She told me and she grabbed my hand pulled me through the fog.

"Late for what? Alise, what's happening? Where are you taking me? Do you know where everyone is? Alise?" Alise ignored all of my questions and kept pulling me until we arrived at our destination—the Reaping stage? What the hell is actually happening?

I heard shuffling, turned around and saw that the townspeople had suddenly appeared, surrounding the entire field the Reaping stage was at but not actually inside the field. They acted almost like a fence, forming a large circle around Alise and I. I turned to look at Alise and I saw her looking forward—at the stage.

I look up at the stage and saw a single peacekeeper, in his usual all-white uniform and gear. But this time something is different—is he holding a gun? They don't just hold those, especially in broad daylight like that. What was next to him caught my attention too. It was a familiar looking fancy stool. Wait, this is all very familiar to me—this is the Reaping. But everything is wrong, why is it only Alise and I in here? And peacekeepers don't announce the tributes. Ever. And the fancy stool next to him is the ballot. But this ballot only has one tiny little piece of folded paper, which was closed with a small section of black tape, at the very bottom of the massive see-through bowl. There should be literally hundreds of pieces in there. That's the sole reason why that bowl is so freaking huge.

I felt a sense of dread wash over me as I looked at the peacekeeper and for some reason, it felt like he was staring right back at me. And I know he has a mask on so I can't see his face at all, let alone his eyes but I just know he's staring right into my eyes. He reaches into the clear bowl and grabbed the only piece and held it up to his face and read the poor person's name. He looked back at me and leaned towards the microphone.

"May..." I shivered as his voice boomed from the large speakers. His voice... sounded like someone was playing a demonic tape in reverse. "...the odds be... ever... in your favor...  _Alise Galloway_."

I felt my heart drop as I heard her name.  _This can't be happening_. I looked to my left, where Alise should be and saw that she wasn't. She was  _just_  here, where could she have gone within a couple seconds? I looked around frantically, my heart pounding in my chest and fear rose from the pit of my stomach up to my throat. They were  _not_  taking my sister away from me, they'd have to kill me first. As I looked around I saw that the crowd of people was staring right at me, judgmental looks on all of their faces. And in the midst of the crowd, I saw a boy and he had his right arm up, pointing at something behind me. I quickly realized he was pointing at the stage.

I whipped around, hoping Alise would be right behind me, and saw that Alise was on the stage, standing next to the peacekeeper. And he was aiming his gun at her head. I gasped.

"Why didn't you save me, Aurora? Why didn't you do something, Aurora?" Alise whimpered out, her voice becoming distorted and demonic, just like the peacekeeper. I began to sprint towards the stage but it was impossible to get there in time. I knew it, but I had to at least try. I felt like as if the stage was just getting farther and farther away. I then felt multiple hands grab me from behind. It was the townspeople. They were keeping me from saving Alise. I was struggling against them, trying to escape from their unshakable grasps but it was quickly becoming too much. I had tears running down my face as I screamed, frustrated and scared. I sobbed as I felt like I was going crazy.  _My sister's going to die_. And I can't do anything about it. Soon the crowd swallowed me up, pushing me down as I felt myself fall into a large, dark hole I didn't know was in the ground. Everything quickly became dark as I descended deeper into the hole and then  _POW!_ —a gunshot rang, the sound ricocheting loudly in the large hole, my ears ringing almost immediately afterward.

" _ALIISSE!_ "

And my eyes sprung wide open and I gasped for air, feeling as if I hadn't been breathing for the past five minutes, as I sat up quickly in my bed. At first, I was confused as to where I was, breathing heavy, letting my oxygen-deprived lungs fill once again, and still riled up from the... was it a nightmare? I quickly looked around at my surroundings and quickly recognized I was in my room, the one I shared with  _Alise_.

I quickly got out of bed, nearly falling on my ass as I scrambled to see if Alise was okay. I  knew it was a nightmare but something deep, deep down is telling me otherwise. But I just needed to make sure she was fine. I nearly stepped on Beau, our six-year-old Ragdoll cat, on the way towards her side of the room, which I think I scared half-to-death when I shot out of bed and proceeded to hop out of bed all in under five seconds but I was too busy to feel bad for her. I'll apologize once I know Alise is all good.

I went up to her side of the room and I saw her lamp light on but her bed was empty. God, no _pleasenono_ —and I quickly descended into panic. And at the moment, after fearing the worst for about five seconds—which felt like a literal millennium in my mind—I heard our door's familiar annoying creak; signaling that someone was coming in. I whipped around and I saw Alise's tired figure at the door.

"Aurora? What are you doing at my bed?" Alise whispered drowsily, rubbing her eyes as she yawned. I smiled as I realized that even in her sleepy daze she still remembered to stay quiet so she wouldn't wake our father. I checked her over just to make sure she was actually okay before I answered her. Her nightgown, which was mine before I grew out of it, is an off-white color. It also wasn't what she was wearing in my dream so that made me relax a bit. But her braids were styled the same way, which sent a chill down my spine. But I quickly noticed that the difference; they weren't as slick and neat as they were in the dream. And with that I sighed, feeling relief flood back into my body. "...Aurora? Did something happen?"

"It's nothing Alise. I just had a weird dream, that's all..." I admitted, not telling her the whole truth. She walked into the room, shutting the door behind her and sat down on the edge of her bed, facing me. Beau climbed up on her bed, like she did every night, settling beside her.

"You wanna talk about it?" She offered, looking at me with a look of concern on her face. I shook my head at her.

"There's nothing to talk about, Alise, I can barely remember it now, anyway. And we have the Reaping tomorrow, too. We have to be up early for that, you already know the drill. Now, let's go, back to sleep, I will too," I told her, motioning for her to get all cuddled up in bed. She groaned, rolling her eyes at me, but did what I told her to do. I did the same, but in my own bed, of course.

"By the way Aurora," Alise began, staring at me as she laid on her side, facing me on her bed, "it's already past 12 a.m."

"Yes? And...?" I asked, trying to sound as nice as possible because I honestly had no idea where this was going.

"Happy Birthday. Goodnight." And just like that, she flipped around, shut off the lamp light and cuddled even more into her bed. Beau stared at me with her big blue eyes for a little, probably trying to make me feel bad for scaring her a few minutes ago, which I was starting to.

"Sorry, Beau," I whispered at her and at that moment she laid down, probably deciding to call it a night.

I laid there conflicted; on one hand, I was appreciating her remembering but on the other, I was at the mad at the fact that the dreaded day was finally here.

You see, I've hated my birthday with a burning passion, ever since I was twelve. When I was eleven, turning twelve in about nine months or so, I had a tiny, little...  _feeling_  about a boy named Nino. Nino was this Spanish boy, with light brown, curly hair and eyes that were probably one of the prettiest shade of green I've ever laid eyes on. He was my age too, just a few months older than me, in my grade and we had multiple classes together. And bonus, we took the same route back home from school every day, so I got to look at him while walking home as much as I wanted. And my God did Scott tease me about this tiny crush. Literally every day. Anyways, one day, he saw me trip, while walking home and he helped me up and ever since then we just really hit it off. We became really close over those nine months. But then, just as my crush was rapidly becoming bigger and bigger and bigger—my birthday came up. My father explained the Games to me. I had only put in my name once, but that was more than enough for my father. I didn't know how to feel but I felt confused mostly. And I had the heavy feeling in my chest that made my hands ache and my knees tremble slightly. But I convinced myself I was fine. Nino and I had plans for my birthday and we were meet up right after the Reaping and it would be all good. I would  _finally_  introduce him to Stiles and Scott and they would love him because he's funny too. It would be great.

But that was until, at the Reaping, I heard  _'Nino Lockway'_  echo through the Square. I felt my mouth dry and I also felt the grip my older sister, Amara, who was standing behind me, had on me loosing up as I heard her sigh in relief. But I hadn't felt that same relief. I was stunned to complete silence. I was so shocked, I couldn't even move or even  _breathe_  as I watched Peacekeepers grab the hysterical boy and drag him away as his mother screamed, running towards Nino and then a Peacekeeper taking her to the ground. I felt Amara pull me close, shielding me away from the horrid view but it wasn't enough. Nino's mother's screams were something that soon would because of many of my nightmares, for weeks afterward. At the age of twelve, I had just barely developed a crush and it was ripped away from my grasp before I could even hold it. It was heartbreaking. Sadly and unsurprisingly, he didn't even last a day in the Games. He was slaughtered in the Cornucopia within the first couple of minutes. I cried myself to sleep for a week afterward.

Ever since, I would spend all my morning stressing over the Reaping, begging whoever was up there to not let any of my friends be picked. Ever again. And my anxiety only got worse after Alise turned twelve but it's been two years since then and she hasn't been Reaped yet, but it doesn't make it any easier. Especially since District Twelve hasn't won in years... my birthday is basically a death sentence for two innocent youths. It's weird to sing  _'Happy Birthday!'_  to someone when you can hear a mother already mourning for her still-alive child all the way from down the street.

Well, I sighed, knowing if I continued this, I wouldn't get a wink of sleep, so I got comfortable in my bed and closed my eyes, beginning, for the second time that night—thank you, nightmare, really appreciate it—my pre-Reaping routine; pray over and over again for Alise and my friends until I fell asleep.  
  


 

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The day of the Reaping dawned early—like it did every year, sadly. This year I had put in my name in the Ballot forty-five times, an extra five more times than last year and an extra ten more than what my father thinks I put in. Ever since Amara, my older sister, had turned nineteen and moved in with Derek Hale, her husband, last year, my father, Hudson Galloway—but I call him Bubba—told me that I didn't need to put in my name as many times anymore.

"I'd rather starve to death than to hear my girls' names over that damned speaker, fighting to the death over some Goddamned food," he had grumbly explained his reason to me one day. And I understood where he came from but I do it anyway. He might not want to admit it—or might not want me to know, whichever it is—but I know we need the extra help. Ever since Mama died, we've always kind of been struggling. A Healer doesn't pay much, not surprisingly though. But Bubba does a good job at covering it up though, I'll give him props for that, if I wasn't so observant and curious I wouldn't have noticed, that's for sure.

I sighed loudly, frowning as I realized that the heavy feeling in my chest that I woke up with still hasn't left. I tried everything all morning to try to distract myself from it but when I wasn't doing anything, my mind would go back to it. I woke up this morning feeling like I almost couldn't breathe properly because of it. I thought at first it was because of the Reaping later on today because everyone and their mother knows I get like this today but this... this was different. It felt like something really bad was going to happen. The last time I ever felt like this was when... I was told Mama had passed. To this day, remembering her still hurt, like as if it happened just yesterday.

I shook the thought away and began playing with the tips of my bushy, thick curls, hoping my low ponytail wasn't messed up from the low branches. I continued to play with my hair, trying to pass the time as I waited in the forest beyond the district fence for Scott and Stiles, my two best friends. We agreed to meet up here before heading back to my house and then to the Square, for the Reaping.

Scott McCall, Stiles Stilinski and I, Aurora Galloway, have been friends since we were in nappies. To this day, I still strongly believe our mothers set it up; 'it'is our friendship, if it wasn't clear already. District Twelve was the smallest of all the Districts so everyone kind of knew everyone. All of our mothers were Healers and best friends too. And after my Mama, Rose Galloway, got pregnant with Amara, Bubba began to work two jobs, Mama's, and his own; a coal miner. Scott's soon-to-be mother, Melissa McCall, and Stiles' soon-to-be mother, Claudia Stilinski, befriended Bubba, quickly teaching him the ropes. My father was soon introduced to Stiles' and Scott's soon-to-be fathers, Rafael McCall and Noah Stilinski. Needless to say, they all just hit it off. We were all born in the same year, just a couple months apart, Stiles being the oldest of us and me, annoyingly, the youngest. And to this day, my father swears that Mrs. McCall, Mrs. Stilinski and Mama planned it. I do too because you just expect me to believe that all of them women just got pregnant all at the same time, by coincidence? Don't think so. But their  _'totally-not-planned'_  plan did work, we did hit it off and we have been best friends for the past sixteen years basically. We just... bounced off each other's personalities, never getting bored of each other throughout the years. And everything was good... up until everything went to literal shit—well, everything had already gone to shit, with our economy and the government and all that terrible shit but  _this_  was when everything went to shit for us, specifically.

We all were about seven years old when it happened. One day everything was fine but then there was a huge BOOM! The coal mine exploded, instantly killing Mr. McCall. Scott and Mrs. McCall were devastated. Stiles and I were devastated. I saw that near man every day, and now he's just suddenly gone? I actually couldn't believe it. The cries of Mrs. McCall were worse than anything I've ever heard. But now that I look back at it, I'm kind of grateful we had time to grieve for him. Whoever is up there gave us three years to grieve Mr. McCall.

When we were ten years old, Mrs. Stilinski fell terribly ill, while pregnant with her second child. A baby girl—which we, later on, found out. But weeks later, sadly, Mrs. Stilinski, along with the baby girl, named Summer, had passed away. That one truly shocked me down to the core. I remember how ruined I was when Bubba told me, tears building up in his eyes as he delivered the news. Scott, Stiles and I were basically bouncing off the walls as Mr. and Mrs. Stilinski told us the great news. Mrs. Stilinski and I even chose her name while Stiles and Mr. Stilinski chose a boy's name. It took me a while to realize this but it was then that I lost all hope—of being happy, of growing old, of there being a better future for me, or for my kids—I lost all hope. Seeing Stiles and Mr. Stilinski get their happiness ripped away from in one single moment and then, afterward, seeing them struggle to cope with this massive loss was... heart-rending. Stiles started having really bad anxiety and panic attacks, which he still deals with to  _this_  day, while Mr. Stilinski turned to alcohol to drown his sorrows. Stiles, Scott and I miraculously got him to stop drinking so much and the whole situation brought Mr. Stilinski and Stiles closer to each other.

And then at the age of eleven, my world came crumbling down upon me. Mama was a healer and I always wanted to follow in her footsteps so I begged her to let me help her as much as I could. She warned me, telling me that some of the patients she took were dangerous at times. But I insisted. And everything was alright, I would help her, with at least one of her patients, after I finished my homework and I had a lil' routine going. It was nice. But one day, while Scott, Stiles and I were hanging out in the forest we found an unconscious Peacekeeper just laying on the ground. Scott instantly began to freak out while Stiles offered to leave the body there. I calmed them down and told them to take him to my house, Mama would fix him. My first mistake. And I barely remember sneaking him through town to my house but I do remember my mother's panicked look when she saw us three holding an unconscious man. And after that, it all happened so fast. I remember bits and pieces of what happened and I'm thankful because I really don't want to know... all the details of what went down that afternoon. I remember that we threw him on our kitchen table and Mama kicked Stiles and Scott out. Mama was yelling out instructions and I was trying my hardest to keep up with what she was telling me to do. She then shoved a needle in his chest and... that was it. He opened his eyes right then and there and jumped up from the table. He looked scared. And angry, very, very angry. He grabbed a roller pin from the counter and then that's it. Nothing else.

I woke up the next morning, laying on my bed, all bruised and sore, no memory of what happened and Stiles, Scott, Amara were all at my bedside. Amara was sobbing while Scott and Stiles comforted the best they could. I could tell they were crying too. I remember being confused as to my everyone was so sad and I asked them what happened. Scott went to grab me some water while Amara explained that the peacekeeper was attacked by someone in town and that's probably why we found him in the forest—a secret she somehow found out, probably through Scott, he used to have a  _fat_  crush on her when we were kids—but most importantly, a secret she promised to keep... only if I brought her back cool stuff I found. He said that when he woke up, not knowing who we were, where he was, what was happening, or what happened to him, he felt  _'threatened'_  and thought we were attempting to kill him. So, he beat us within an inch of our lives... or more, my life. He fatally struck Mama on the back of her head with the roller pin causing her to die instantly from the impact. He killed Mama. And I survived. And God, the aftermath was something I really don't want to think about. It's still too painful. I just remember blaming myself for ruining my family's lives. It is my fault. It still is.

But after that, all the pain, all the shock, ups and downs, mourning, loss we experienced, it really brought us all together. And closer than ever. We know each other more than we'd like to admit it. I can read right through them sometimes. Scott was like our leader, even though sometimes he was pretty slow, but it was okay. He was an optimist, he made Stiles and I chose the right decisions in many, many situations, where without his advice, the issue would've honestly gotten worse. He has a big heart and is like the older brother I never had, but secretly always wanted. I was their little sister, the one they felt the need to protect. And, not to toot my own horn but I was the sane one. I was the peacekeeper, I ended the drama between my boys. I helped them with girl problems, I helped them with school work and I felt like their mother at times. Stiles was the comedic relief and... my crush. I've liked him before and after Nino, so basically for as long as I could remember. He was just so... pretty, with his lil' moles and whiskey-colored eyes, and his personality, his humor. Everything was great. But he loved Lydia, for years and years, and then he got over it, and I thought I had an actual chance but then he loved Malia. And now he's back to loving Lydia. So I decided not to tell him, because first of all, all of what I stated before and secondly because the rejection would probably obliterate my pathetically fragile heart. And honestly, I highly doubt he would ever like me that way either.

"Aurora!" A familiar masculine voice called my name, startling me slightly, as it came out of nowhere, and derailed my thought process completely. I whipped around, seeing Stiles and Scott coming up to me, causing me to stand up and flatten out the skirt of my dark green button-up dress.

"Hey, guys..." I greeted, not really bothering cover up my feelings that were clearly showing on my face and in my voice. They looked nice: Scott was wearing a thin, dark gray hoodie, almost like a thermal, with some khakis, with him dark boots to top it off. Meanwhile Stiles... oh God, Stiles is so fucking beautiful, goddamnit. He was wearing a baby blue Henley and some gray pants, paired with some dark boots too.  _Ohmygod_ , I'm never getting over this stupid fucking crush.

"Hope we didn't make the Birthday Girl wait too long!" Stiles exclaimed, a big smile on his face as he made his way towards to hug me. Which he did, tightly, wrapping his arms around my midsection, which I gladly accepted, covering up my wince at the mention of  _'birthday'_  by draping my arms over his shoulders and around his neck. I hugged him back just as tight and buried my head into the crook of his neck but right before I did, I made eye contact with Scott. He wiggled his eyebrows at us and I rolled my eyes at him. I inhaled his scent and my nerves were calmed down slightly. He smelled of peppermint and cinnamon. And I wanted to stay in his arms for the rest of my life. He whispered "Happy Birthday, Rory," in my ear and I tried not a shudder at the feeling of his warm breath on my ear. But it wasn't that hard since he said Rory and the terrible name snapped me out of the trance he had put me in.

I groaned loudly at the mention of the cursed  _'R'_  nickname and unwrapped my arms from around Stiles' neck, pushing him away from me. He laughed as he grabbed both of my arms and pulled me close to him and began to tickle me. I struggled to not scream as I tried to get away from this torture.

"Mieczyslaw Stilinski! St-stop it r-right!" I choked out between the laughter and at the mention of his real name, Stiles let me go and I punched his arm.

"Um... ow," Stiles said, making a face, pretending to be in pain as he pouted at me and rubbed the spot I punched.

"Oh shut up, you deserve it," I defended myself as I stuck my tongue at him. He raised his eyebrows at, pretending to be offended at my actions and I heard Scott chuckling beside me. Of course, he would be enjoying this. Sadist. "I don't like being tickled, you of all people know that I can't control my limbs. I straight up kicked Scott on the chest the last time!" I reminded them.

"Yeah, I remember that it was absolutely hilarious," Stiles commented, snorting as the memory most likely replayed in his mind.

"No, it wasn't, he immediately had an Asthma attack afterward. I thought he was gonna die, I thought I killed him!" I yelled at him, my eyes squinting at him as I wondered if we were thinking about the same situation because let me tell you. it was nearly terrorizing to me. Being the cause of his Asthma attack.

"Yeah, it wasn't funny at all, but I kind of deserved it. You did tell me not to tickle you," Scott said, looking a little guilty.

"Scott, are you kidd-" I started but Stiles cut me off.

"Maybe I wanna get kicked in the chest, ever thought about that?" Stiles jokingly commented and I turned to look at him again.

"I will not hesitate to punch you in the arm again," I fake threatened. Stiles' eyes widened and he backed up a little bit and his arms went up in the air, signaling his surrender. I laughed at his reaction and winked at him. He then dropped his arms and sheepishly looked at me, his cheeks becoming a dusty pink. I smiled at him and turned to Scott, remembering he had properly greeted me yet, going over to hug him. Scott smiled as he wrapped his arms around me and kissed my right temple.

"Happy Birthday, Aurora," he spoke, and I laughed as I could feel his deep voice rumbling in his chest as he spoke. He pulled away, the same smile still on his face. I looked at the both of them and sighed again, as I felt the warm happy feeling begin to dissipate and the cold, heavy feeling of dread from this morning settling in once again, deep in my chest.

"What's wrong, Aurora?" Stiles asked, immediately sensing my change in mood and taking multiple steps closer to me. He had concern lacing his voice as his eyebrows scrunched up in confusion and worry. I felt bad as I realized I totally ruined the moment we were having and most likely brought their happy moods down with me.

"What  _isn't_  wrong, Stiles?" I retorted, and I instantly felt bad. I didn't mean for it to come out so rude.

"Aurora-" Scott began because he knew where I was taking this but I interrupted him.

"No, Scott, don't  _'Aurora!'_  me!" I exclaimed, mimicking his voice, pointing at him. He rose his hands up, signaling defeat and that he didn't want to fight with me. I squinted my eyes at him and felt weirdly proud of myself. I scare him? Hahahahaha. Good.

"Come on, Rory..." Stiles began, trying to reassure me and I interrupted him too. I honestly didn't want to hear what he had to say, and I know that's really rude of me but I don't care at the moment.

"No, Stiles! How many times did you put your name in that God-forsaken bowl?" I questioned him, trying desperately to get them to understand my side.

Stiles sighed and mumbled out, "forty times."

"And you, Scott?" I asked Scott, looking towards him for his answer.

"Same as him, forty," Scott stated, further proving my point.

"And I did it forty-five times, Stiles! Forty-fucking-five times! Lydia did twenty-eight, Allison did thirty-five, Kira did thirty-one, Erica did forty-one, Cora did twenty-eight, Isaac did thirty-six, Boyd did forty-two and Alise did fifteen! And just  _once_  is enough, Stiles! I know you remember Cole from last year, he only did it once and they picked him, Stiles!" I explained to him, listing the facts.

"Aurora, we do the same numbers every year and we  _still_  haven't been picked. What makes you think we'll get picked this year?" Stiles really sucks at trying to comfort people sometimes. Like... really sucks And he sucks at arguing with me.

"Just because we haven't been Reaped yet that doesn't lower the chances, Stiles," I told him, not even knowing why he even mentioned that and I wondered if they even cared, or if they even  _realized_  the kind of danger we were in every time my birthday came around. "Anything could happen," I finished.

"Aurora, what is this really about? You don't normally freak out like this..." Scott pondered aloud, and he was sporting the same worried look as Stiles. I sighed and I knew he was right, I don't act like this and I wondered if I should tell them about my dream. After thinking it through, I decided to go for it.

"It's just that- I just..." I didn't know how to word it.  _'Yeah, I had a nightmare last night where Alise got Reaped and now I'm paranoid outta my damn mind because this is literally my number one fear'_? I closed my eyes, my fingers pinching the bridge of my nose as I continued, "I woke up today with a... heavy feeling in my chest. Like as if something was gonna go wrong... I know something bad is gonna happen today. I  _feel_  it, guys," I rambled, looking at them.

Scott and Stiles turned to each other and then to me. Unable to contain my anxiety-filled word vomit, that I hadn't realized I was holding in until now, I continued my panic rant; "One of us is going to be Reaped. It could be you, or you, or Lydia, or Allison, or me, or even Alise! I even had a nightmare last night that it happened to Alise and I thought I was losing my mind. Oh my God,  _ohmygo_ -" Stiles wrapped his arms around me and I instantly shut up. God, I have it bad.

"Aurora, we are gonna be fine. I promise, we just have another two more years of this shit and then, we're free," Stiles whispered, rubbing my back and I took a deep breath, breathing his scent once again and beginning to finally calm down. Scott came over and hugged Stiles and me, turning this into a group hug.

"Yucky, group hug," I commented jokingly, trying to lighten the mood I single-handedly destroyed. Stiles laughed and poked my side and I yelped, and I punched his arm again. I warned him not to tickle me. He is just asking for it this point.

"Ow! Now that one hurt!" He yelled, frantically rubbing at the spot. Scott laughed at his reaction.

"Must fucking suck," I retaliated, wrapping my arms around my midsection protectively. He draped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me towards him, which caused me to feel hundreds of butterflies in my stomach. God, the effect this boy has on me. Scott turned to me and looked at me expectantly.

"I can't promise anything but don't worry, we'll be fine Aurora," Scott reassured. "We always are."

I sighed, looking at the both of them, and spoke, "let's hope that that's the case for this year. Come on, it's almost time and we gotta go before our families get worried about us. And I hope y'all are right and that I'm just overthinking things or I'll  _'I told you so'_  y'all to death. Trust and believe that."

And with that, Scott, Stiles and I made our way out of the forest. And Lord, were they wrong.

 

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	3. chapter two: the reaping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Reaping: Aurora was right. Something-- everything went terribly, terribly wrong.

**_TW: swearing, mention of pet death, mentions of death, brief mention of pregnancy and brief mention of war_ **

 

 

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" **A** urora?"

"Yes, Alise?"

"Are you afraid?"

I sighed, Alise  _would_  ask something like this. I looked at her from the reflection in the mirror. She was standing in front of me, as I was finishing up doing her hair for the Reaping. She was wearing a light blue denim skirt overall and a beige colored short-sleeve shirt underneath. Her dark skin was complemented by the pastels of her outfit and her dark brown, basically, black hair was up in a neat, high bun—courtesy of yours truly.

I turned to the side and looked at Stiles and Scott, both of which were sitting at the dining table, across from each other. They looked at each other and turned, giving me helpless looks. I internally rolled my eyes at the idiots and turned to look at the girls; Lydia Martin, Allison Argent, Kira Yukimura, and Malia Tate. They were spread out in my kitchen, Lydia was leaning up against the counter, Allison was sitting in front of her on the kitchen table, Malia sitting on the counter and Kira was to her left, leaning on the counter too, petting Beau. They all gave me apologetic looks and I internally groaned, damning them all.

After we—Stiles, Scott and I—left the forest, we had met up with the girls, all of which were at the Argent household and we walked to my house, because I always get Alise ready for the Reaping. Erica, Boyd, and Isaac were most likely at the Hale Household. Sometime around the beginning of the year, Derek had taken those three under his wing. I literally had no idea why by they all just bonded, it was adorable if I'm being completely honest.

Danny and the Twins, Ethan and Aiden, were probably at Danny's, we'd meet up with them afterward.

From here we will go down to the Seam for the public not-execution-but-basically-an-execution.

I took a deep breath and after pondering what I should say to her, I respond with, "just a little bit, babe. But that's what everyone feels on this day so it's no big deal."

"Yeah, don't stress. We'll be fine," Lydia reassured, suddenly appearing beside us, "we always are."

Lydia had reminded of Scott in the forest because that's literally exactly what he had said to me, and she put a comforting hand on Alise's shoulder and Alise looked like she had more to say but I really wasn't in the mood for this conversation. I didn't know what to tell her, it was breaking my heart, she looked so scared and I was so helpless in this situation. I can't do anything to protect her from the truth that is our horrible reality.

"Okay, you're all set, Alise, let's go," I asserted, preventing this conversation from going on any longer by interrupting it. I looked at Lydia and smiled at her, silently thanking her for trying to help me out in this situation. Lydia winked at me and God, I love her so much, she's the freaking best.

"But-"

"Alise, we gotta go, or we're gonna be late. And I really don't wanna find out what happens if we are. I'm not trying to get arrested or something worse. Come on," I explained to Alise, looking at her expectantly. She huffed but nodded and I sighed, turning around, facing the group who was already up. We all gave each other knowing looks and we began to make our way out of the door, Alise and I being last. And as soon as Stiles stepped out of the house, me following, thinking that Alise was right behind me, I heard her call out.

"Aurora, I'm scared."

And that sentence alone brought down my walls entirely. I turned to her and saw her standing in the middle of the room, with Beau at her feet, her long, fluffy tail wrapping around Alise's ankle. Her big brown eyes were sad and her eyebrows were slightly scrunched up, a worried look adorning her face. She reminds me so much of Bubba.

"Oh, Alise," I cooed, running back towards her, crouching down and hugging her. For a fourteen-year-old girl, she really was tiny.

"What if I get picked, Aurora? What if  _you_  get picked? I don't want you to die!" Alise rambled, sounding exactly like me when I ramble.

"Dang, babe, have some more faith in me," I joked, hoping to help lighten the mood.

"Aurora, you know what I mean," she said seriously. I sighed and looked at her, remembering my terrible dream and how real it felt.

"Alise, listen to me, okay?" I started, looking her right in her big doe eyes and she stared right back, waiting for me to continue. "I'm not gonna let anything happen to you, you hear me?  _Nothing_."

"You promise?" Alise asked in a quiet voice.

"Cross my entire heart," I reassured her, smiling up at her. She quickly wrapped her arms around my neck, hugging me tightly. I was kind of taken back by the all-of-a-sudden hug and I nearly fell over on my ass but I quickly balanced myself out and hugged Alise back just as tight. I kissed her right temple and we pulled away.

"You ready?" I asked her and she nodded, grabbed my hand and we walked out of the house, seeing the group there, waiting.

I scanned the group and soon enough my eyes landed on Stiles and once again I was reminded why I had such a big crush on that boy. His beautiful amber eyes were looking right at me and he had this look, one I couldn't place. It made my heart swell though. He had this little smile on his face and I just wanted to kiss him right then and there. I, begrudgingly, looked away, I didn't want him or anyone else for that matter seeing me basically checking him out and my eyes landed on Malia and she was smirking at me. I cursed myself as I quickly remembered Malia is incredibly observant and nothing really gets past her. Malia knew I had on crush on Stiles and that was one of the main reasons why she didn't date him when he asked her out a while back. She has been wanted us to get together for the longest time and no matter how many times I told her and the other girls that it just wasn't going to happen, they refused to listen. I blushed as she winked at me and I looked back at Stiles and I saw him still staring at me. I blushed harder and proceeded to walk down my porch steps and towards the group, Alise in tow, and as I did that I saw Stiles wink at me. I nearly choked on my spit at the sight. Why the fuck does he have to be so fucking attractive, what the actual fuck?

 _'Lord, don't do this to me, you know just how hot he is,'_ I thought to myself. Once I reached the group Stiles draped his arm over my shoulder and pulled me close to him.

We then began to walk to the Square, not knowing that that day, in just a few moments, our lives would change for good.

 

 

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Once we got to the Square, we almost immediately got separated. Boys one side and girls the other. Alison, Malia, Lydia, Kira, Alise and I went to our rows; we were separated by age. Alise went with all the fourteen-year-old girls, Lydia, Kira, Malia, Erica and I went in the row with the sixteen-year-olds and Allison and Cora, Derek's little sister, went with the seventeen-year-olds. I stood next to Malia at the end of our lil' clique's row.

After every child was grouped together, we waited for the Mayor to do his usual speech. I look around and behind the boy's group, off to the left, I see Mr. Stilinski and Ms. McCall. The sight would've made me smile. If I wasn't in this place I definitely would've too. They were standing next to each other and—they were holding hands!  _Yes!_  Scott, Stiles, and I have made it one of our number one goals to get those two together. I kind of wanted Lydia's mom to get with my Bubba but I knew it was still just a little bit too soon for him, so I knew I had to be patient.

And that reminds me, where's Bubba? I turn and quickly spot Bubba. He kind of easy to find, he's six-foot-four-inches and his dark skin made it even easier to find him. He was wearing a gray shirt with a brown vest, standing off to the side, next to Amara and Derek. And I saw that Laura Hale, Talia Hale, and William Hale, Derek's older sister, mother, and father, were there, too—which was shocking. They usually don't come to these.

 _'It honestly breaks my heart to watch these,'_  I remember Talia told me. I can't blame her. If I could, I would run away and never come ever again.

I saw that Bubba was staring right at me, his sad eyes boring into mine. I looked at him and threw him a small smile. I could just barely make it out but I know he signed,  _'to the moon?'_  to me. He does it every time. And just as I signed,  _'and back'_  the Mayor began to speak.

"Welcome, citizens of Panem," he began, his voice nearly thunderous in the Square as the crowd and its unnecessarily substantial amount of Peacekeepers was silent, now more than before. He continued, "welcome to District Twelve's reaping of the seventy-third annual Hunger Games. As many of you know, disaster struck what used to be North America..." and it was around here when I would zoom out because I seriously don't give a fuck. A civil war from years ago resulted in us sending our children to die every year, still to this day? For control? I'm not paying attention to this, it's straight bullshit.

I tune back in when I can tell he's about to introduce the Capitol's representative.

"In the past seventy-three Hunger Games, we have had only a few victors representing District Twelve. A living victor representing District Twelve is here today. His name, as many as you know, is Haymitch Abernathy and the tributes will meet him shortly after being Reaped, as he will be their mentor. So let's get this started, shall we? I know you all are dying to know," He announced, chuckling, like as if this was a joke. "Please welcome Effie Trinket of the Capitol!"

And with that a lady, Effie Trinket I guess, strutted up to the front of the stage after her introduction. And she looked pretty ridiculous but that's the Capitol for you. She had a huge smile on her face and was tall, with perfect posture and very pale. Like  _'this-is-my-first-time-stepping-outside-in-fifty-eight-thousand-years'_  type of pale. And she had some weird makeup on too but that's whatever. What she was wearing though, was another story. She has a full plum-colored suit on. A plum-colored skirt that went down, just barely reaching her knees. It was weird, it was ruffled but not at the same time. And she had a plum-colored, long-sleeve, peplum button-up blazer with exaggeratedly huge shoulder pads that oddly reminded me of a really big mushroom. And to top it off, she had a rather uncomfortably large flower choker and a fucking massive plum-colored flower on her big, white hair and some black heels.

"Happy Hunger Games, District Twelve, and may the odds be ever in your favor!" Ms. Trinket proclaimed with her typical Capitol accent. That line sent a shiver down my spine as it reminded of the demonic Peacekeeper from my dream. Effie continued, "as you all already know, the time has come. I have the absolute honor of choosing one courageous, young man and woman to participate in seventy-fourth Hunger Games. As the Mayor mentioned before, you all must be waiting so let's get right to it, huh? Ladies first." She finished with the same large smile on her face. I rolled my eyes and felt my heart pounding in my chest, feeling on the brink of a panic attack. As she reached a manicured hand into the giant ballot that was filled halfway with slips of paper, closed with usual black tape, I looked down, not wanting to hear someone being sent to their death—and also hoping it would calm my heart down.

And then, I heard it. The reason why my heart was pounding, the reason why I freaked out earlier today, the reason why I woke up with the heavy feeling in my chest. The reason why I had a nightmare last night.

"Alise Galloway," Ms. Trinket calls out.

And at that moment I felt my heart stop. I looked up, at the back of Alise's head and I couldn't see her face but I knew what look she had on her face. One of terror and shock. I look around and I saw my Bubba's face; he was still processing what was just said, just like me. Amara wasn't any better, already beginning to cry. Talia, Derek, Laura, and William looked surprised as well. I turned and saw the boys staring at me; Stiles' eyes were wide open, Scott looked near to tears and Isaac Lahey, Vernon Boyd, Danny Mahealani, Ethan and Aiden were all standing in the same row as them and all had varying looks of shocked, upset and confused faces as they turned to look at me as well. I turned to my right and look at the girls and they are harboring the same looks like the rest of my family and friends are. I hear Ms. Trinket begin to speak into the microphone again.

"Alise? Where are you? Oh! There you are. Come on, don't be shy. Come on stage," Ms. Trinket cooed at Alise and at that moment everything slowed down, even time. I remembered playing with little five-year-old Alise out in the rain, us splashing through the mud as our dog, Spark, chased us. I remembered carrying little six-month-old Alise around the house, taking her off my hard-working mother's hands. I remembered bathing little ten-year-old Alise, her splashing me with water, resulting in a water-fight that got us in trouble with Bubba and he gave us a stern talking. I remembered burying our dog, holding Alise as she sobbed, kissing her forehead. I remembered getting her ready for school every morning. I remembered Amara surprising eight-year-old Alise with a little kitten, a couple months after Spark died, which she named Beau, despite everyone in town telling her it was a  _"boy's name"_. I remembered Amara and I taking care of little one-year-old Alise, me being completely and utterly obsessed with her. I remembered Bubba and Mama telling Amara and I that Mama was pregnant. I remembered Stiles, Scott, Amara and I shopping at the Seam, me holding little three-year-old Alise. I remembered Bubba, Amara, Alise and I holding each other after Mama's funeral. I remembered Bubba wrapping my broken arm in a splint after Erica had broken it falling off a tree and I tried to catch her,  Alise holding my hand the entire time. I remembered all the times I would speak to Mama's tummy, feeling her kick at the spot where my hand would lay. I remembered all the nights I stayed up late with Alise, talking about school and boys and whatever our minds would think of. I remembered calming twelve-year-old Alise down for her first Reaping. I remembered her and Amara holding me after every single nightmare I had had about Nino or Mama. I remembered Bubba passing little one-day-old Alise into my arms, I looked down at her tiny face, her eyes closed and I whispered  _'hi, baby girl'_ , and a small smile appeared on her lil' baby face as she heard the words, as she heard my voice and at that moment, I remembered I silently swore I would protect her from all harm. And this was the moment.

 _'Why didn't you save me, Aurora? Why didn't you do something, Aurora?'_  Alise had said in my nightmare. I tried to do something but I failed. Now, I can't afford to fail. If I do, then I'm losing Alise and I'm going to be letting her down as a big sister. I'm going to be letting my whole family down as a big sister. And I'm not letting Alise down. Or Amara. Or Bubba.

Or Mama.

I made up my mind. I wasn't letting this happen. Absolutely not.

"No. No. NO!" I began chanting as I ran out of my row and ran towards Alise but four Peacekeepers stopped me, gathering around me, preventing me from getting to Alise. "No! NO! ALISE!" Alise had already moved from her spot in the crowd and was standing at the center, in the aisle between the boys and the girls. She was in the process of being led on stage by four other Peacekeepers when I called out to her. She turned around at the sound of my voice and at that moment I got a good look at her face. Her big doe eyes were scared and red due to the fact that she was crying, big, fat tears rolling down her dark brown cheeks.

"Aurora?" She asked, her voice so tiny I just barely heard it over my struggles against these damn Peacekeepers.

"Alise, no! Let me go, let me go! I-I volunteer!" I screamed, finally pushing the men off me, them instantly backing up away from me as they heard my last two words.

"What?"

"I volunteer as tribute," I yelled, loud and clear, making sure everyone and their mother heard me.

" _Oh?_  A volunteer? Well, it looks like we have a volunteer, everyone! That's just great!" Ms. Trinket announced, looking right at me. "Come on up!"

I pushed past the Peacekeepers and ran to Alise, instantly wrapping my arms around my little sister. I then bent down in front of her, keeping eye contact with her.

"Aurora, what are you doing?!" Alise screamed at me, not caring that every eye is currently on us.

"Keeping my promise, babe. Now go, Alise. Go to Bubba and Amara-" Alise cut me off.

"No!" She cried out, feeling her cries stab through my heart. I hated it when she cried.

"Alise, go find-" I tried again but she wasn't having it.

"No! No!" She screamed, grabbing onto my arms with the intent of never letting go.

"I'm so sorry-" I said but then the Peacekeepers decided that was enough, pulling us apart. Seconds later, I saw Stiles, appearing out of nowhere, grab Alise. She was refusing to move so he had to lift her up completely off the ground, putting her on his shoulder. While he did that, I saw he had tears in his eyes as he stared at me. Our eyes locked for a second and then suddenly he was off.

"No! NO! AURORA! NO!" Alise screamed as she was carried away, continuing to scream as Scott quickly followed them, not before casting me a look that broke my heart.

I was then led to the stairs of the stage by four Peacekeepers. I slowly made my way up as I digested what just happened in these last few minutes. I'm a tribute now. I'm going into the Hunger Games. I'm possibly going to die.

"District Twelve's very first volunteer, ever. Come on, dear, come on up," Ms. Trinket acknowledged me and as I reached the last step, she gently but firmly grasped my hand, pulling me fully on stage and guiding me towards the microphone at center stage.

"Hello, hello! And what is your name?" Ms. Trinket asked her colored lips in an even bigger smile than before.

"My... uh, my name is Aurora Galloway," I answered, still not knowing whether I should feel happy that I saved Alise or sad because I might definitely never see my family or friends ever again. No more Lydia, no more Allison, or Erica, or Amara, or Issac. No  
more Scott, or Malia, or Kira.  _No more Stiles_. No more Bubba, or Alise. That's it, it's over for me.

"I suppose that that beautiful little girl I called was your sister, huh?" I numbly nodded, glancing at Ms. Trinket and then looking around. I saw Lydia, Allison, Kira, and Malia holding each other as Lydia sobbed loudly. I turned and saw Derek holding Amara and Bubba holding Alise, who was sobbing on his chest, I could tell by the fact that her shoulders were shaking up and down.

Bubba was also crying, which tore at my heartstrings even more. The sight of my Daddy crying will always hurt. He deserves more than what this life offered him. I'd bring him the moon if he asked me to.

"Yes, that was," I answered as I guess my nod wasn't enough of an answer for Ms. Trinket as she leaned the microphone towards my mouth.

"Well, let's give a hand to our volunteer, Ms. Aurora Galloway!" Ms. Trinket told the crowd, as she began to clap lightly herself.

Not a single person besides her clapped. All I could hear was sniffs and sobs coming from multiple people. My eyes scanned the crowd once again and, at first, I didn't know what I was searching for until I found it. I was subconsciously searching for Scott and Stiles. Scott was crying, his brown puppy-dog eyes red and he had tears running down his face. Stiles was crying too, but he looked different, he looked more in pain. He wouldn't take his whiskey-colored eyes off me and in any other circumstance, I would have been blushing like a little school girl like I was earlier. But right now, it felt like my heart couldn't take any more of this. More of looking at my friends crying for me. More of my family looking like... like they were already mourning me.

And suddenly something happened. As if it was planned I saw all the townspeople, instead of clapping as Ms. Trinket told them to, they all, one after the other, put up their three straight middle fingers, kissing the fingers and raising it up high above their heads. I was shocked at the use of this old gesture. I never knew this district knew me like this, knew me enough to say they love me. I reminded of a conversation I had with Ms. McCall; she had told me that everyone knew about The Galloways.

 _'Everyone loved your mother,'_  she told me once.  _'She was a great healer, a good conversationalist too. She was just a great... friend, not just to me and... Claudia, but to everyone. Everyone was dying to see her be with your father too. He is, was, and always will be a good man. When they got married, nearly everyone came down to the wedding. Everyone loved you, Amara, and Alise too, since you girls act so much like her. After her death, it was like a disconnect. Everyone mourns in a different way. Maybe that's why the townspeople don't really talk to you all as much as they did before. Must see too much of her in you.'_

 _'Do you really think I act just like Mama did?'_ I asked her. My father told me that I reminded him so much of her but I honestly don't see it. Mama was such a kind person, I felt like I wasn't as good as her, or that I'll ever be.

 _'Yes. You all do.'_  Ms. McCall began, looking off into the distance as she spoke to me and at that moment, I felt my heart break for Ms. Melissa McCall. She had gone through so much I just wanted to give her a big hug. She lost both of her best friends and her husband. It made me hate Death for stalking her so much in her life. She deserves so much more.  _'Amara took your mother's maturity and her sympathetic side and is understanding just like her. Alise is thoughtful and bold, always saying what she felt was needed, not caring who heard, just like Rose. And you, Aurora, you got a little bit of everything from your mother. You might not see it but you are selfless, charming, cunning, witty, and smart. You are a beautiful young girl, Aurora, and you'll grow up to be a wonderful woman. Just like Amara is becoming, and just like your mother.'_

So that's why we always got good deals while trading. And that's why the townspeople are saluting me now. It makes sense now. The townspeople were thanking me. The townspeople admired me.

The townspeople were saying goodbye to someone they love.

"And now, for the boys," Ms. Trinket continued and just like that, I was brought down back to reality. Ms. Trinket walked over to the other massive ballot that was meant for the boys and she reached in, pulling out another slip of paper. As she did that I wondered,  _'Who's the poor soul who I might kill or might kill me?'_  And then it really hit me. I'm going to have to kill people. Children. I'm going to have to kill children. I'm going to have to take the life of  _someone's child_. I just turned sixteen and in just a couple weeks, I'm going to become a killer. I can't kill, how will live my life, if I even survive this shit, with blood on my hands? How will I able to do this without killing someone?

Ms. Trinket tore open the slip and read the name, leaning towards the microphone.

"Liam Dunbar," Ms. Trinket called out and I couldn't help it but I look for the boy. I quickly spotted the poor boy as the boys surrounding him moved away from him, keeping their distance from the boy like as if he had the plague or something. Probably hoping the Peacekeepers wouldn't make a mistake and grab the wrong kid. The kid, Liam, looked around, shocked at his name being called but he reluctantly went with the Peacekeepers. And Lord was it heartbreaking to see him come up. He looked so scared. And as I watched him come up the stairs I'd realized seen him before. His family owns a bakery in town and he is also in Alise's grade, I've seen him going into some of her classes. The boy must be fourteen too. And for some reason, I felt the need to hug and comfort him, tell him everything would be alright.

I shook the weird feeling off and realized he was staring right back at me. I looked down, not wanting to see him staring at me any longer. I felt Ms. Trinket walked away from me so I guess she was guiding him towards center stage, where I was like she did to me. I glanced up when I saw Mr. Trinket's bold colorful outfit in the corner of my eye and saw they were standing right next to me, her hand on Liam's shoulder.

"Here we are, our tributes from District Twelve," Ms. Trinket rehashed and looked at the crowd again. My eyes found my father once again and I saw that this time, Mr. Stilinski and Ms. McCall were at his side, Mr. Stilinski had his hand on Bubba's shoulder and Ms. McCall was holding his hand. They both looked like they were crying too. And chastised myself for looking at them again, I have to stop looking, I'm on the brink of having a breakdown right in front of the whole District and that'll make me seem weak. Ans I definitely can't go into these games looking weak.

Ms. Trinket continued, "Now, come on you two, shake hands."

I turned to Liam and really looked at him, like really looked at him. And I felt this feeling, of familiarity, it was weird. I felt like... I knew him from somewhere else, not just from the bakery or from Alise's classes, it was on the tip of my tongue and nearly driving me nuts because why the hell can't I remember this boy? But I scrapped the thought for now and reached my hand out, at the same time he did. We shook hands awkwardly but at the same time firmly. Ms. Trinket practically beamed at the sight.

"Once again, happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor..." Ms. Trinket finished and turned around to us, gently grabbing both Liam and I by our shoulders and leading us towards the large dark door. I've seen this door so many times before, from past Reapings obviously, but I never really thought I'd ever see myself going through it. The door was guarded by two Peacekeepers and once we walked through the doors, the doors were promptly shut behind us.

"Come along now, quickly. You have a limited amount of time," Ms. Trinket rushed, her heels clicking in the empty hallway she led us down. I didn't even bother to ask what she meant by that and just quietly followed her. We were led into a room and the Peacekeeper opened the door.

"Aurora, this is your stop," Ms. Trinket informed me and I glanced at her and Liam and walked in the small room. I turned to look and they had already been closing the door behind me.

And like that, I was left to my own devices. There was a chair in this room and I knew better than to just sit in it but it's all kind of just hitting me and my legs felt like jelly and godohgod I'm going to die. I shook my head, chastising myself again for thinking like that.

 _'No, Aurora, stop thinking like that! You want to see your family again? You want to live! You must win!_ ' I thought to myself as I took a seat.

 _'But I can't kill people, I_ can't _have blood on my hands,'_ I pondered, wondering how in the fuck I would survive these games, how would I go about avoid murdering someone. I struggle enough just by hunting birds and squirrels and I know that's for survival, but at the end, it's still a life and I still feel bad. Maybe it'll help if I view it as hunting? This is the basically the same thing as hunting. I have to survive. It's necessary death. But... I can't; that's someone's child right there. But at the same time, I'm someone's child too.

 _'Ugh, this is so fucking terrible,'_  I thought to myself as I racked my brain for a way out and every solution I came up with just came with another flaw or a problem and I felt my blood boil with anger. I hate these fucking Games. But I have to survive, I have to come back, to Scott and Ms. McCall, to Lydia and her mom and the Tates, I have to come back and see Kira. I have to come back to Allison and her family, I'll miss her like crazy. I have to come back to Isaac and Boyd and Erica and the twins. And I have to come back to Danny. I have to come back to the Hales and I have to come back to Mr. Stilinski and... Stiles. I have to come back for him, to him. I'll miss him and Scott so much. And when I do, hopefully, I will tell him how I feel. No more waiting around. No more secrets.

And most importantly, I have to come back for Bubba and Alise. And Amara. We are all we have. I can't leave them, I can't let myself get taken away like that Peacekeeper did to us with Mama. I have to come back to them.

And in that room, I promised myself that I would kill only if I absolutely had to. Because I might think about others and their well-being and why I shouldn't kill them but that doesn't mean they're doing that to me.

And as I stared off into space, looking at the wall in front of me in the small, quiet room, I realized something. I realized that I wasn't really freaking out as much as I felt like I should anymore. And I wondered why am I not shaking at the fact that I might die in a few weeks? And it hit me. I have a shot at this, it's slim but a shot's a shot. And I remembered why.

 _'Thank God Mama taught me archery and Bubba taught me knife-throwing. Without those, I would be a lost cause in these Games,'_  I thought, slightly chucking because I used to complain about why I should learn to them constantly when I was younger and when I was around thirteen I realized I could use my skills to hunt and now, look at how handy they'll come in for these stupid Games.

And in that very moment the door opened, the loud noise startling me and I looked up, seeing Alise, Amara, Bubba and the Hales. And that was what officially caused me to breakdown.


	4. chapter three: goodbyes and old memories (part one)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While saying goodbye to her family and in-laws, Aurora has a little moment with her old pal, Derek Hale.

_**TW: kate argent, abuse, pedophilia, trauma, swearing, implied PTSD, mention of a panic attack, slight violence, slight assault, mention of hunting, slight mention of bullying, mention of deaths via fire** _

 

 

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" **Y** ou have six minutes," the Peacekeeper informed us and shut the door behind my family. It was silent for about four seconds as my father, two sisters, Derek, Cora, Laura, William and Talia all stared at me. For some reason, those four seconds felt like an eternity and I thought the peacekeeper was going pop his head in any second now to tell us our time was up. Shockingly—but at the same time not shocking at all—my father was the very first to speak.

"Aurora?" He said, his voice trembling. I didn't know what to say. The look on his face—the look in his eyes brought my walls down.

"Daddy," I said, tears already beginning to roll down my face as I stood up from the chair I was sitting on and ran to him. I ran into his waiting arms, wrapped my arms around his neck and he hugged me back, wrapping his arms around my waist tightly. I didn't care if they all saw me crying, looking like a big baby in front of them. I needed to feel safe, even if it was for a second. Either way, they're all family anyway, so it shouldn't even matter.

"Daddy, I'm so sorry. I couldn't let Alise go up there, I-I just couldn't. I'm sorry," I sobbed out.

Bubba shushed me as I sobbed, hiccuping and all. He pulled away and gently wiped my tears away.

"I'm scared, Daddy. I'm terrified. I-I-I d-don't wanna leave you, I don't w-wanna kill chil-children. They're gonna m-make me kill kids, Daddy. But I-I... I don't... I don't wanna die. I'm so scared, I don't know what to do," I rambled, hiccuping like crazy and honestly at this point I felt a little embarrassed to be this emotional in front of the Hales. They've never seen me like this.

"My baby girl, my brave, beautiful baby girl," he began, and he looked at me with, so much love in his eyes, it made me feel like my heart was breaking all over again. "I'm scared too, baby. But you have a shot, okay? Remember, you have a lot of people waiting for you to come back. And you  _must_  come back to us, you understand?" I nodded, gripping his shirt like as if the Peacekeepers were about to come in any second now and take me away, and my Bubba's lip trembled.

"God, I love you so much. You have to be brave, okay? Just as brave as you were out there, you have to be in there. And the killing... no one will look at you differently, you won't be killer, okay? You have to do it to survive, Aurora. It's... messed up, you know that the most out of everyone, but in these conditions, it'll be okay. You gotta do what you gotta do to get back home," he told me firmly. I nodded and he continued, "no one will view you differently, baby girl. I'll make sure of it."

I nodded again, knowing damn well he couldn't force others to think I wasn't a murderer but I let it go for now. That's a different conversation for a different time, a time that I might not live to see, or a conversation I might not live to have either. He sighed and tears began to form in his eyes as he looked me over once again.

"God, you remind me so much of Rose," he commented and I smiled because, for the time being, I guess I could see what he meant. Mama would've done everything to protect her children, just like I did. He kissed my forehead and hugged me once again. I breathed in his calming, familiar scent and as I did, I heard him whisper in my ear.

"Hopefully now you can realize that you truly are a good person and can stop blaming yourself for a death that wasn't your fault," I pulled away from him, like as if I was burned and I stared deep into my father's eyes and he gave me a knowing look. I don't think he can even begin to comprehend how much those words are affecting me right now. I looked down in shame, suddenly feeling guilty for an unknown reason, and he tilted my head up, looking up at him once again.

"I love you, Aurora."

"I love you, too, Daddy," I replied, hugging him tightly for the last time, sniffling into his shirt, silently thanking him because for once in five whole years, I didn't feel the guilt of my mother's death on my shoulders. Even though I knew it wouldn't last all too long, since I have long accepted the weight of the guilt and allowed it to make a home somewhere deep within me, it was nice, at least for now. I unwrapped myself from his body and turned to face my sisters and, honest to God, I had literally one nanosecond to register the fact that Alise and Amara running at me. Literally running  _at_  me.

"God, why would you do that?!" I heard Alise say and she was quickly interrupted by Amara.

"Oh my God, you idiot, are you okay?!" Amara bombarded me. And then she, as well, was interrupted by Alise's screams.

"WHY WOULD YOU DO THA-" Alise screamed at me and I couldn't take it any longer.

"Alise!" I cried out, causing her to stop talking and I pulled away from both of their arms and crouched down to level myself with her crying face.

"Wh-why-why? Why would you do-do that?" She cried, hiccuping as she hugged me tightly.

"Alise, I would rather die a million times over than to watch you be in those Games," I informed her. She looked at me like she understood but I know she's incredibly stubborn, she wasn't having it. "When I heard your name be called I nearly lost my mind, I thought my ears were literally playing jokes on me."

"You have to win, you have to-to try, you have a chance," she whimpered out. I sighed, knowing this would be a hard conversation to have.

"I do have a chance, everyone's always told me I'm smart all my life. I'll definitely try, okay? You have my promise, Alise."

She nods and I kiss her forehead, hugging her tight.

"Don't let Beau forget about me..." I commented trying to lighten the mood, smiling at her. Alise laughed, sniffling as she nodded at me. I went to stand up but Alise stopped me again. I looked down at her expectantly and I felt her slip something metallic and small into my left hand. I opened my hand and I saw it was a golden pin; a golden pin of a Mockingjay holding an arrow in its beak.

I looked down at Alise in confusion, why is she giving me this?

"It was Mom's pin... I made it a while back. I knew she loved Mockingjay's. It was her favorite bird. She told me once when she dies she wanted to come back as one of them. After she passed... I didn't what to do with it, so I just kept it on me all the time," Alise explained and I felt my heart break at the mention of Mom. I was also slightly taken back at the fact that Alise had managed to forge a literal metal pin but at the same time, I still didn't understand why she was giving it to me though...

"Alise, why are-?" Alise cut me off.

"Just take it, so you know we're with you, always, even when we aren't there. Even Mama, she's gonna be there with you, too. Through the pin," Alise rambled out and I nearly melted at the sentence. I wanted to break down into tears once again, but I had to stay strong, for my family. I quickly wiped the tears that escaped and nodded my head at Alise, putting the pin in my pocket.

I turned around to face Amara and I truly took in her appearance, like as if it would be the last time I would be seeing her and I wanted to capture the beauty that is my sister. She's crying just as much as she was when Alise's name was called, and probably not more than Alise currently is. I wondered if she had the same moment I did when she heard Alise's name and saw me go up on stage.

 _'Do you think she wanted to replace the both of us? Volunteered for us?'_  I thought to myself. It must suck for her not to be able to do anything, just stand in the sidelines and watch her siblings get sent to literal Hell. I think I would've literally lost my Goddamn mind if I knew I couldn't have done anything about to save Alise.

"Amara-" I started but she cut me off.

"Just come back, Rory. Please, come back," Amara whispered to me as she pulled me into a bone-crunching hug. She finished with; "I don't know what I would do if I watched... if I watched you get ki... get mur..."

I cut her off, knowing she was struggling with finishing that sentence, "you won't. I promise."

I pulled away from her hug and looked at the Hales. Cora and Laura were crying and so was Talia, which was a rare sight to see. William looked troubled, probably keeping it together for his weeping family and I looked next to him and my eyes landed on the last Hale, Derek and- wow. Derek was actually crying.

Derek and I had a nice relationship, which I'm proud of. He is a very silent, loner-type of guy. Reminded me so much of a hermit. He was a very closed person, never really wanted to let anyone in, never wanted to show that he cared. The fact that I managed to sneak into his life, slipping in through the cracks of the walls he has built around himself and that he  _allowed_  it, was a pleasant, almost satisfying feeling. It felt like a weird accomplishment, like a trophy. Especially since he basically acts like he despises everyone, and just barely tolerates Boyd, Erica, and Isaac—even though they still, very clearly annoy the shit out of him. He's super nice to me, Alise, his family, and my father— _duh!_  And it annoys the shit out of Stiles, which is the best part too. And don't even get me started on he acts when it comes to Amara. Lord, the only time I've ever seen a love that deep and profound was when Mama was still alive. Bubba treated her like as if she was his entire world, which she was. Derek treats Amara that way and it what she deserves. I do pick them good, don't I?

_The story of Amara and Derek began when I was twelve years old, almost thirteen. I had asked Amara, who had turned sixteen at the time, why she stares at this specific boy at school so much and she had admitted to me—after about five minutes of her making me super-pinky-promise not to tell a soul about her lil' secret—that she liked the boy. And after watching the boy myself, wanting to see what the hype was about, I noticed the boy was a year older than her but he was indeed cute. And I even tested him, acting all clueless and asked him to walk me to class because I was "lost". And he passed it because he did without a second thought, even it was about five months in the school year. He's a lil' clueless but it's whatever, his beautiful hazel eyes make up for it. He carried a nice conversation with me the whole time in which I learned that his name was Derek Hale. And he didn't forget about me either, which I personally thought was adorable, he would say hi to me in hallways all the time. So I knew he was a good person—and most importantly good for my sister._

_But Amara never did anything to act out on her feelings. And I wasn't going to force her either. Mama used to say that if something is meant to happen, it'll happen, that fate works in mysterious ways. So nothing happened, no matter how many times I told her "stop waiting for something to happen out of nowhere and to do something about your feelings" or how much I wanted it to happen, Amara was too shy, too scared of being rejected. And soon it was too late._

_The Hales were a big family and they lived in a pretty big house. They had many family members; cousins, uncles, and aunts. But then the Hale Fire happened, four years ago when I was still twelve. The only survivors were Talia, William, Laura, Cora, and Derek._

_The Hales were a family of_ twenty-two _._

_Derek closed himself off from the world. He lost nearly all his friends, which was a disgusting thing, only five of his family of twenty-two survived and you leave him? Yeah, better not to have those people in his life but it's such a wrong time to leave him. I felt so bad for them and racked my brain for days, trying to find a way to help them out._

_I remember a couple weeks, probably one or two, later, I overheard Bubba talking to Ms. McCall about the fact that the Hales were struggling food-wise and that they wanted to help them out. I decided that the next day I would hunt as much as I could give it to them. It took all day and I lost a lot of bows and knives and Scott and Stiles wouldn't stop complaining but I managed to catch four bunnies and two ducks and one squirrel. I even managed to get Alise to ask the Dunbar's for two pieces of bread that morning, which she got thanks to how adorable she was._

_The next day I went over to their makeshift home at the time with five bags and a timid smile on my face when the door opened. Mr. Hale, whose name I would learn later on is William, answered._

_"Sorry to bother you, Sir, my name's Aurora Galloway, daughter of Hudson and Rose Galloway, and I feel really bad for what happened to your family. You may be a stranger but my Mama... she used to always say our house is always open to those in need, even if they are strangers. And you are a stranger, in need. Hopefully, this helps," I proclaimed and I handed the bags to a very confused looking William. Once he looked in the bags the man broke down in tears._

_"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry, also please don't tell the Peacekeepers I hunt," I begged the man, confused as to why food of all things is making him cry, hoping that he wouldn't rat me out because I hurt his feelings. He then dropped down to his knees and hugged me, thanking me profusely._

_Out came Derek and Talia, I didn't know her name either, at that very moment, from inside their makeshift home, probably wondering what was taking the man so long or why he was on the ground. Now that I think about it, that view from inside the house was probably terrifying to them. They came running over and Talia spoke first when they reached William._

_"William...? William?! What happened?! William, what is it?!" She yelled at him. Derek looked long and hard at his father and then at me and I saw anger flare in them. He then proceeded to grab me by the shirt._

_"What did you do?!" He yelled in my face and recoiled back, trying to get out of his grip, scared at what was happening._

_"Nothing, I didn't do anything! Well, I don't think I did anything! I just gave him this! I promise I only wanted to help!" I explained, trying desperately to remove Derek's hands from my body._

_"Derek, let her go, now," his mother ordered and Derek looked torn but he begrudgingly let me go. I took a couple steps back, fearing what his mother had in store for me. At that moment I was terrified of all of the remaining Hales. What the heck is wrong them all? Are they vegetarians or something? Oh my God, what if they are vegetarians?_

_"Thank you, thank you so, so much!" Their father yelled, now up from his knees and literally picked me up off the ground, hugging me tightly. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mrs. Hale take one look at the meat in the bag and she gasped._

_Mr. Hale put me down and Talia crouched down to my level._

_"Did you get this... for us? How...?"_ Even though the Hales were showing me kindness, they still pretty much terrified me, so I cut her off.

_"Yes, but you can't tell anyone or I'm gonna get in big trouble says my Bubba! And I can't say, it's a secret. Well, gotta go now! You're welcome, bye-bye!" I rambled out, trying to get out of that conversation as quick as possible. I ran away from the Hales without a second glance._

_I unknowingly began my relationship with the Hales after that day. A week later, William came to my house and Bubba answered the door. I was standing at the kitchen, absolutely terrified that Mr. Hale was going to tell them what I did and get us all in trouble. But he did the opposite; he thanked us, he told my father that what I did basically saved them, helped them out a bunch. He told Bubba that he should be glad to have a daughter like me._

_Bubba ended up giving me a stern talk about hunting and how I was supposed to keep it a secret but I could see in his eyes that he was proud of me. I remember being so happy that day._

_But what I personally believe really formed my relationship with Derek was the whole Kate fiasco. God, that crazy bitch._

_Shortly after the fire, Derek had gotten involved with a woman. Her name was Kate Argent. Lord, did that break poor little Amara's heart. She assumed he wasn't on the market because of the fire so she hadn't made a move because he was still healing. When I told her that he was seeing this Kate lady, the look on her face said it all._

_I felt bad for Amara, she really fell for this boy. And I know that I hated Kate because Amara is my sister and I have to hate whoever is hurting her, even if they don't mean it but this Kate chick was just... off to me. She gave me a bad vibe, one that said 'steer-clear-of-this-bitch!'. I had no idea what Derek saw in her._

_I found out that they were a thing when I saw them making out in the woods when I went to do everything; hunt, practice my knife-throwing, my archery and hang out with Stiles and Scott when we weren't beyond the fence. They dated for about three months before I realized something was seriously wrong in that relationship. She had this grip on Derek that was... something I can't even begin thinking of the proper word to explain. She refused to let him do any work with any girls, have any friends, barely talk to family, it was bad._

_Talia came over to my house one day and talked to Mama about it._

_"I just... I don't know what going on anymore with him, you know? He was so open with me, used to talk to me about everything... and now, it-it's like I barely know my own son," Talia cried, laying her head on my father's shoulder as Bubba comforted her, trying to calm her down. She had shown up that night randomly at our doorstep, crying. I had answered the door. My father took her in immediately asking if she was okay. She explained that she hadn't to do her husband because he was "too worried about his job and he didn't need more on his plate". It was at that moment, after watching Talia sob into my father's shoulders, I decided I would put an end to that relationship, and possibly create a new one._

_After spying on them for about a week or two, I realized that this Kate chick was using and abusing Derek._

_I found out she was using him while walking to the Townsquare, for a little trading action. I had unintentionally eavesdropped on a conversation Mrs. Farway and Mrs. Evergraze were having. Mrs. Hazel Farway and Mrs. Primrose Evergraze were two little old ladies that had retired and spent the rest of their days watching others work, giving advice to others and, mainly, gossiping about the district. Always. Like gossiping was literally all they did. I had no idea how they got all the information they spoke of since they barely moved from those rocking chairs they basically lived in but everyone knew, when they said something, it was either true or going to happen._

_Mrs. Evergraze was talking about how the Mayor had felt bad for the Hales and had made an arrangement with the Capitol to get them some money to get back on their feet._

_"When will that Derek boy open his eyes and realized that slimy Kate is only with him for the money?" Mrs. Farway sighed. My eyes widened. First off, how the hell does she know they're together? And Kate's only with him for money? What money? I decided to continue my research later on that day, with my father because now he and Talia are constantly coming over each other's houses, quickly becoming best friends._

_Later on, that day, before I went to bed I saw Bubba in the kitchen, reading. I decided to question him._

_"Bubba?" I remember asking him quietly. He looked up at me, his brown eyes eyeing me curiously and a smile appeared on his face._

_"Yes, Rory?"_

_"I got a question, I was wondering if you help me understand..." I explained vaguely, beginning to wonder if this was the right thing to do._

_"Of course, what's going on?" Bubba asked, setting his book down on the dining table and motioning me over to him. I walked over and sat on his lap._

_"I heard the Hales are getting money from the Mayor... is that true?" I had asked him, tentatively. Bubba's face changed almost instantly, going from curious and slight worriment to an almost angry look._

_"And where in the Hell did you hear that from? Were you spying on my conversation with Talia?!" He interrogated me and instantly I regretted asking him anything at all. I remembered I made a mental note to trust my gut feeling always._

_"No, no, Bubba! I heard it from Mrs. Farway and Mrs. Evergraze earlier today..." I explained myself, hoping not to get in trouble because of some gossiping old ladies._

_"Gosh, those ladies do love to talk, don't they? Well, no one is really supposed to know but yes, they are. And honestly, it's great for them. It'll really help them out," Bubba explained and I nodded understanding. I then decided to ignore my gut feeling once again and ask him about Kate._

_"And also, who is Kate Argent and why did they call her 'slimy'... is she a bad person?" I remember asking Bubba again and I also remember his eyebrows raising in shock or surprise, I don't know but it was one of those two._

_"Kate? Did she talk to you?!"_

_"Bubba, no! It was Mrs. Farway and Mrs. Evergraze again! And no, she hasn't spoken to me! Is she really that bad?" I asked again, wondering what she did that was so bad_.

_"Oh goodness, you nearly gave me a heart attack, Aurora. Stay the hell away from those women, Rory, you're too naive, they'll confuse your little mind. But Kate Argent... is not a good person, at all. She's known for being a thief. She stole from everyone at the market, even assaulted Mr. Cornell when he caught her. But that was years ago, anyways her father, Gerard Argent, got her out of those accusations those, he's 'close' friends with the Mayor," Bubba tried to explain, using his hands to do the quotation over the word "close". I nearly recoiled back in shock at the new information._

_"The Mayor's gay?! Doesn't he have a wife?!" I asked Bubba, now incredibly confused. I don't hate gay people, not at all, I'm literally bisexual. I believe all people have the right to love whoever they want to love, regardless of gender, but this man has been married to his wife like a thousand years now... and they have kids, too—and to this day I still laugh at the look my father gave me when that sentence came out of my mouth._

_"My Lord, Aurora! No, he blackmailed him!" And afterward Bubba had to explain what blackmail was to me and after getting a stern talking for being a little snoop, I was sent to my room._

_While laying in bed, after being banished to it by Bubba, I tried to figure out a plan on how to help Derek but nothing came to mind. I decided I would confront him after school._

_And that's exactly what I did the next day. And after taking an entire day to explain the whole situation, what I was doing and what I was planning on doing to Stiles, I managed to get him on board. After I begged him for help for like ten freaking minutes._

_"Derek scares me Aurora, let him suffer in peace, please, for the sake of me, pretty please?" He begged me, his arms flailing everywhere—a thing he still does to this day, you can't have a Stiles conversation without he waving his arms around like a madman—and I shook my head at him._

_"Quit your begging, peasant boy! You made a pinky promise you'd help, and you're keeping it. Stop being such a coward," I argued, in a weird posh accent. I remember thinking that Stiles needed to calm down, he was acting like as if Derek was going to kill us._

_"Aurora, come on-"_

_"Fine coward boy, I'm going on my own then," I had interrupted him, being fed up with his stubbornness. I had turned around to walk away from him and I was suddenly yanked back, a hand grabbing my arm. I turned and saw it was Stiles. I stared at him in confusion._

_"I don't want you going on your own though," Stiles admitted, looking extremely conflicted. I glared at him. He wasn't giving me any leeway in this situation._

_"Stiles, what the hell? Dude, I'm going, whether you like it or not. And I don't understand you couldn't just come with, it's not you had to talk to him," I tried bargaining with him, feeling a little bummed because I really wanted to spend some time with Stiles and I thought he was going to come with me but he didn't want to do this and I obviously wasn't going to force him too either._

_"Fine, let's go," Stiles groaned out, finally giving up. I broke out into a big smile because thank God, I really didn't want to do it alone._

_"Yay!" I cried out, grabbing Stiles' wrist and dragging him out of the school. We managed to find Derek speed walking down a neighborhood and I had a feeling I knew where he was going. We hiding behind Ms. McKenna's house, sneaking glances at him from a safe distance._

_"Wait, so how exactly are you gonna do this? Just go up to him and say, 'Hey, your girlfriend is a scummy, gold-digging bitch with a serious history of theft and you should dump her for my sister,'?" Stiles whispered, mimicking me. I smacked his arm for his language and sighed because he was right._

_"Just follow my lead," I whispered back and I ran up to Derek, coming up to him from behind._

_"Hey Derek, how you doing?" I said, greeting him loudly. He jumped, obviously getting scared by my sudden presence._

_"Aurora?" He asked, looking confused. I wiggled my eyebrows at him, smiling._

_"In the flesh," I responded boastfully, striking a lil' pose for him. I turned my head, wanting to see where Stiles was and spotted him right behind me. I winked at him and turned to face Derek once again._

_"What do you want?" Derek grunted out, his eyebrows scrunching up and his eyes glaring holes into my face. He eyed Stiles up suspiciously too. I decided to continue my lil' innocent act._

_"Why are you assuming I want something? Can't I just talk to my old pal?" I lied to him, shaking my head at Derek._

_"Who's the boy?" He questioned. I felt Stiles get closer and grip my arm from behind._

_"None of your business. Anyways, back t-" I retorted quickly, trying to change the subject from Stiles back to whatever it was I was trying to do. I was still trying to figure out a plan and I only had like twenty-three percent of one at that moment. But Derek cut me off._

_"I gotta go, don't talk to me," he grumbled, shutting me down completely. He turned around and began walking once again. I began following him and Stiles followed me._

_"Derek, come on, don't go. Derek!" I pleaded, trying to get him to stop but he was ignoring me. I huffed and suddenly an idea came to me._

_"How's the house-money treating ya? You just gonna not talk to me because you gonna be rich now?" I quipped, knowing damn well that would get his attention. 'Try ignoring me now, bitch,' I had thought to myself and then I quickly chastised myself for swearing._

_Derek whipped around, causing me to stop abruptly, apparently too abruptly for Stiles because he ran right into me, causing me to stumble forward a lot and nearly fall on my face. He grabbed my arm from behind once again, stopping me from making a complete fool of myself._

_"How do you know about that?" Derek questioned glaring at me harder than before._

_"Don't need to worry about that, Derek, but just know, I'm not the only one," I said, smirking at him as I managed to finally figure out a plan and I had him exactly where I wanted him._

_"Who else knows?" He interrogated me, stepping closer to Stiles and I. I stood my ground because if he even thought I found him in the slightest bit intimidating, he was going to be very discouraged and very soon. I decided to still answer his question though._

_"The only people I know who know apart from myself and your family are my father and some big-mouthed old ladies. But maybe you should ask your girlfriend, maybe she knows someone else who does..." I hinted, trailing off at the end. I remember seeing something flash across his eyes and face, but as quickly as it appeared it disappeared before I could analyze it._

_"How do you know about her?" He asked once again, deciding to get in my face, probably hoping that would get some answers from me. I could basically count his eyelashes from how close he was. Stiles at that moment decided to do something besides stand off to the side with his tail between his legs and that was to get in between Derek and I. He pushed me back and stood protectively in front of me. I couldn't see his face but it must've been a scary one because I honestly, at that moment, I thought Derek would swing at him for his bold move but Derek stared at him for about five seconds and then backed up._

_"Y'all suck face where I hunt," I admitted, sneering at him. How dare he get in my face, has he lost his damn mind? I began to get mad because what the hell, why is he being so freaking mean? What happened to nice Derek? What does Amara even see in him anymore? But then I remembered the conversation my mother had with his and I remembered Kate. This is what his mom meant by "I don't recognize my own son anymore," He's acting like this because of her._

_"Whatever, I gotta go. Don't tell anyone what you know or else," Derek said, threatening me. I was pissed but I decided to let it go. He went to turn around but I quickly began talking again._

_"Wait, come on, Dere-bear, I just wanna talk, why you in such a rush?... Wait, are you in a rush to see her?" I said, realizing that I was right earlier, he was rushing to see Kate._

_"Aurora, I really need to get going-" he began to say but I wasn't letting him get away that easily, so I cut him off._

_"Yeah, get going out of that relationship!" I interjected in a witty way._

_"Shut u-" I cut him off again because don't ever tell me to shut up. Fuck you_.

_"You're scared of her, Derek. I see it. I've seen what she does to you, what she tells you to do. My Mama told me that in a relationship the couple loves each other. What you guys have... it isn't Love. Hell, it's barely a relationship, Derek. I know you see that." I affirmed, looking him right in his eyes, trying to get him to see what she was doing, trying to get him to see that Kate was a bad person._

_"I have no idea what you're talking about," he claimed and I rolled my eyes at him. He's more stupid now for thinking I'm just as stupid as him._

_"Derek, you're observant, you're smart, I know damn well you are. I know you see that she isn't a good person, I know you know about her not-so-secret past as a literal criminal, I know you know she's using you to get to that huge stack of money you're about to receive, and I know you know that she's turning you just as rotten as her and that this rotten version of yourself is hurting your family, especially your mother," I stated, glaring right at him. His eyes widened and I quickly continued, "And you're just ignoring that because you don't wanna face the consequences yet."_

_Derek stared at me and I could tell he looked defeated so I knew I was getting through to him_.

I continued, " _but the funny thing is, there are no consequences, Derek. If you explain what happened, your family will understand, you know that. They'll forgive you and they'll help you. You know they're there for you always."_

_"But she'll do something, her... her grandfather is... not a good person," he explained, looking at the ground._

_"I know about her grandfather, but you shouldn't suffer through this because of some raggedy old ass man. Now go and break up with that scummy, gold-digging,_ pedophilic, _slimy bitch," I finished, quoting Stiles a lil' bit, walking up to Derek placing a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at me and I smiled at him._

_"Now? But-" I cut him off._

_"We'll go with you, if you feel like you can't do it on your own, she won't be able to do anything, we some good, innocent, adorable ass kids," I advised, pulling Stiles close to me and pressing my two pointer fingers into his cheeks, making it seems as though he had dimples._

_"But Aurora-" I cut him off once again, finally getting fed up with his stubbornness._

_"Dude, don't do this for me, do it for your mom. She's hurting seeing you like this," I mentioned, knowing I was hammering this home._

_Derek looked as though he was thinking it over and I mentally patted myself on the back for accomplishing this. Stiles looked at me with this face that clearly screamed, 'what the hell else did you just get me into?' And I smiled innocently at him. Derek then spoke up, interrupting our little moment._

_"Okay, fine. I'll go break up with her now but-" I nearly burst with joy at the sentence, I didn't even need to hear the rest of it. He's finally doing it!_

_"Yay, let's go!" I more or else shrieked, grabbing both of their hands, pulling them in the direction of the forest._

_The break up consisted of many screams, insults, fake crying, and threats but he managed to maintain being calm and did get through it somewhat cleanly by pulling out the classic 'you're literally a pedophile and I can totally use this information against you and ruin your life forever' card which was a nice touch, in my opinion, got her to back off instantly._

_Afterward, he went home, explained the whole situation to his family, apologizing to them. But Stiles and I obviously weren't there for that part, I found out through Talia. She had come over once again and she talked about the whole situation to Bubba over coffee, talking about how they all forgave him, how much he has truly changed and how happy and at peace she finally was. I walked into the kitchen to grab a glass of water while she was talking and as I made my way out of the kitchen, my father looked at me and winked at me. I smiled back, greeting Mrs. Hale on the way out._

_And the look on Amara's face was great when I told her that a certain boy whose name starts with 'D' was single once again._

_After the whole Kate fiasco, For about a month afterward, Derek would show up literally out of nowhere and pull me away from everything to talk to me. Now that I look back at it, I realize he was confiding in me, trusting me and I subconsciously smile at the memories. The first time he appeared out of nowhere. I was in school, in the hallways, talking to Scott and Stiles about some stupid test we had to take the next period. He had come from behind me, startling the hell out of me._

_"Can I grab Aurora for a second?" Without even waiting for Scott nor Stiles to respond—which most definitely was going to be a big, fat"no" from the both of them, they had yet to trust him, around that time—he dragged me into an empty classroom. He apologized for being a lil' prick and I accepted his apology, in return I told him if he ever needed a friend to talk to, I'll be there. I didn't he would take me up on that offer so literally._

_One day, about three-ish months after the Kate fiasco, Derek had come over to my house. He was telling me about some rumor that was speculating about him and at that moment Amara came in through our door. I smiled at her and then I saw her freeze. I also saw Derek kind of tense up as he stared back at her. I looked at Amara and then Derek and an idea popped into my head, gasping so hard I nearly choked._

_"HEY AMARA, how you doing?!" I exclaimed, grinning like wild. She didn't answer, seeming frozen as she probably was trying to figure out why in the world her crush was at her house, so I decided to help her out._

_"I'm good, thanks for asking, anyways have you met Derek Hale?" I asked, trying to sound as clueless as possible. Amara looked at me like as if she wanted to smack me and I smirked at her, giving her a thumbs up and winking at her. I got up from the couch and grabbed Derek, pulling him off too. I dragged him towards and I pushed him a lil' so he would be standing right in front of Amara._

_"Derek Hale, meet my older sister, Amara Galloway. Amara Galloway, meet my friend, Derek Hale," I overexplained, grinning like a little school girl at the same time. All they did was stare at each other so I huffed, a lil' annoyed that I had to do all the work but I was going to do anyway. I pinched Derek's side and that seemed to snap him out of the trance that my sister's beauty put him in._

_"N-nice to meet you," he stuttered out and I could already see them together. I was grinning like a madman._

_"Nice to meet you too," Amara echoed shyly. She had this little smile on her face and I saw Derek smiling at her._

_"Hey aren't Y'all in the same school? That's crazy, what a coincidence," I rambled out, trying to get them to talk._

_"Yeah, I've seen her in halls before," Derek responded, sounding in a slight daze, still staring at Amara. Aurora turned to look at me weirdly._

_"Aurora, there's only one school-" she began but I interrupted her._

_"Anyways, that was nice, I gotta talk to Derek in private, bye Amara!" I exclaimed, excitedly. Amara stared at me and I motioned for her to go away. She huffed and walked in the direction of her room. I didn't want to send her away but I need her to out of the room for now._

_Derek stared at her as she walked away and then when she was out of sight, he turned to look at me. We stared at each other for a few minutes; I had the biggest grin on my face and he looked a little scared._

_"Aurora, are you okay? I've never seen you smile this much." Derek commented, looking at me incredulously._

_"Am I okay? I'm great! But the real question is... what do you think about my sister?" I asked, not even trying to hide what I was trying to get at._

_"What do I think about her? She's... nice I guess," Derek half-confessed, looking over in the direction Amara left. I scoffed, she's Goddamn stunning, nice is belittling to her, well, at least in my eyes._

_"You_ guess _? She's_ more _than nice, I would say she's... gorgeous, don't you think?" I instigated, smirking at Derek. His eyes literally bulging out of his head._

_"I didn't say that," he sputtered out and he was just making this too easy. They are literally meant for each other._

_"Yeah, but you didn't have to because I already know that you want to."_

_"Umm..." he uttered out, looking around my living room frantically, possibly trying really hard to find something to get out of this conversation. I rolled my eyes at him._

_"Derek, I saw the way you look at her, you look like me when I..." I trailed off, stopping myself as I realized where I was taking that god awful comparison. 'You look like me when I stare at Stiles,' I was going to say... how stupid could I be, nearly revealing my crush like that? I internally shook the thought out of my head and quickly continued my sentence, knowing that Derek would catch on and see this as a way out, "Look at some pumpkin bread or something."_

_"Pumpkin bread? What? You know what? Whatever. I don't like your sister," he disclosed to me, not even realizing it and my eyes widened. Jack-fucking-pot!_

_"I never said you did," I replied with the biggest, shit-eating, devious, smug smirk on my face. His eyes widened as he quickly realized his mistake._

_"Fuck."_

_Turns out, about two weeks after the whole Kate fiasco, Derek caught me talking to my sister in the halls at school and was wowed at her beauty, because fucking duh, my sister is fucking drop-dead gorgeous, getting hooked on her immediately. He told me he wanted to talk to her but didn't know how to approach her due to the many rumors speculating about him at the moment. A week later, Amara grew some tits and asked Derek out. And the rest is literally history, they are literally married now._

I returned back to reality and realized I was staring right in his red-rimmed eyes. At that moment, that old memory of us made me realize something. I realized just how much I meant to Derek. I realized why Derek and I had such a lovely relationship, why he was so kind to me. I realized why Derek had allowed me to sneak into his life, why he let me slip in through the walls he built. I realized at that moment how much love Derek must have for me. I saved his family from starving to death, got him out of a predatory, abusive relationship, was his friend when he really didn't have any, held all of his secrets, let him confide in whenever he wanted to and helped him meet and get with the love of his life. He wanted me to get in because he trusted me, he cared about me. That old memory took a whole new meaning in my mind.

"Come back, Aurora. Please," Derek pleaded me, more tears falling down his cheeks. I nodded, now noticing that tears falling once again dripping out my eyes. Great, now I'm crying again.

"I will, Dee, I will," I whimpered out and he walked towards me, wrapping me up in a big hug. I hugged his torso tight, feeling my tears wet his shirt. I looked over and I saw his sisters, still crying and holding each other for support, staring right at me. I looked at them and smiled weakly.

"Get over here," I called out to them, pulling my left arm from Derek, motioning them over. They ran at me just like Alise and Amara did minutes ago and I allowed them to group hug me this one time. Might be the last one I ever have, so might as well.

"Time's running out, guys," Alise warned us and I let the Hale siblings go, wiping my tears away as I swore under my breath. I speedily walked towards Talia and hugged her, not wanting to let them leave without a hug.

"Oh, my sweet, brave Angel. You're gonna be okay, okay? You got this in the bag, you hear me? No one can throw a knife or shoot an arrow like you, sweetie. We'll be waiting for you when you win," she encouraged me and I hated it but she actually gave me some hope that I could possibly win this shit-show. I nodded and watch as a single tear ran down her tan skin as she leaned down and kissed my forehead. I smiled and turned to Mr. Hale and he quickly wrapped me up in a hug.

"There's nothing I can really say that hasn't already been said but as Talia said, you can do this, just remember that we're going to be on the edge of our seats waiting for you to return back to us," he promised me and I smiled once again, hugging the man tighter. I pulled away and turned to look at my family, smiling weakly at all of them, looking at them and feeling an almost... bittersweet...  _emotion?_ I couldn't think of the proper word since I was so focused on the fact that I had so many emotions running through me at the moment.

"Well, this is it, Y'all," I stated quietly, my voice cracking at the end. Alise suddenly looked panicked.

"No, no it isn't!" She cried out and at that moment Amara decided to speak up, looking very anxious and... bothered.

"Aurora, there's something I have to tell you," she said quickly, her Galloway rambling coming out. And before I could even process the sentence that came out her mouth, the Peacekeeper came in through the door.

"Time's up," he said simply and I felt my begin heart beating erratically. I didn't want them to leave, all of this instantly becoming too real for me but I couldn't cause a scene because then Peacekeeper would nine times out of ten hop in and that's the absolute  _last_  thing I want to deal with. Getting a war-styled trauma flashback while my hearts beating a thousand miles a minute and also, on top of that, I'm already on the verge of having a full blown panic attack doesn't sound like a good time for me. Sounds like the literal recipe for a heart attack.

Fuck.

They all began to be escorted out of the room by two Peacekeepers and right before she would step out those doors, Amara ducked under the Peacekeeper's arm and ran towards me. She wrapped me in one last, crushing hug and I felt her press her face up against mine, her mouth close to my ear.

"I'm pregnant. Come back so you can help me name your future niece or nephew," she whispered and turned around, letting the Peacekeeper who's arm she ducked under grab her and pull her out of the room. She was pulled out of the room and the doors were shut abruptly before I could fully process the news.

I stood there in shock at the revelation that was essentially chucked at me, my legs giving out and thank God, I was already standing in front of a chair, my knees would've paid dearly. Amara's pregnant. I'm an Aunt now... Aunt Rory. Let's see if I live to hear myself get called that.

I sat in silence for what felt like forever, with my head in my hands, wondering what the fuck was going on and I wasn't meeting my mentor, seeing Liam, or on the way to my inevitable death yet. Shouldn't I have been gone by now? What were they, or I guess, I was waiting for?

The sound of the doors opening once again got my attention and I swiftly looked up, wanting to see who came in and got the answer to my "who am I waiting for?' question from before because through doors I saw Isaac, Allison, Kira, Boyd, Erica, Lydia, Malia, Scott, and last but not least Stiles wall shuffle into the room.

 _"That's funny, you thought you were_ finally _gonna stop crying about three minutes ago, didn't you?"_  I heard a tiny voice say in the back of my head as I stared at the group of friends that I loved so dearly. _'Think again, bitch.'_

 

 

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